Picardseason 1 finale posted this past Thursday and with it, the first season comes to a close. Many things can be said about the show, but mundane cannot be one of them. Picard brought such a spin on old characters and points of view, it pioneered new ground much as the original Star Trek did back in the 60’s. I think Picard might be the most pure Star Trek anything since the Original and Next Generation. If you have not seen episode 10 yet, quit reading! As Will Wheaton said in the ‘Ready Room’, if you are reading things about episode 10 without having seen it yet, you are doing yourself a great disservice!
Spoilers Warning From Here On!!!
Picard Season 1 Finale: Oh So Star Trek
I think in a lot of ways Picard brought Star Trek back to its roots more than any show since the original series. It confronted issues in everyday life and presented them in manners that were neither heavy handed nor preachy. It changed context just enough that one could feel the message in a removed form and then apply it to today.
Sir Patrick Stewart and Allison Pill referenced to trust in structures being eroded while talking in the ‘Ready Room’. Entities the people long believed in such as government and media are no longer entities that can be blindly trusted as they were in the past. While you can see some of this, that is what I love about this series and others like it. I did not focus on that at all, even though I can see why they say that. Starfleet almost came across as bad guys, and even the mighty Jean Luc Picard walked broken in failure. To me, though, Picard highlighted a whole different message.
Picard Season 1 Finale: The Journey Within
To me season one spoke more about the journey within and finding one’s self. Every single character in the show started out broken, even Jean-Luc. The characters introduced all suffered from some past trauma that uprooted their lives and drove them down paths they never wanted, even if they were now embracing them. The show did an excellent job weaving all these broken threads together seamlessly, and it gave us something new.
Every Star Trek before started with a Starfleet crew. Everyone went through the same training and were on a starship because it is where they wanted to be. Voyagercame closest to breaking this mold with the Maquis having to integrate into Voyager’s crew, but even then it boiled down to two crews with different ideas merging together. With Picard, for the first time, we have a motley, rag-tag group of misfits being pulled in the same direction through one man’s quest to fix the past. I really liked this feel to the show as it allows it to integrate different ideas and views and opinions much more seamlessly than before. No matter who they were, old crews had to conform to Starfleet regulations. Not in this show.
As the show progressed, every character faced down their personal flaws and demons. They grew into characters that while maybe not whole yet, could now move beyond their tragedies and forge a new life.
Picard Season 1 Finale: Not So Star Trek Look
With the entire crew of the La Sirena staring expectantly at the now synthetic Jean-Luc, he steps forward with the trademark ‘engage’ gesture. The show launches into season 2. I have no idea where the ship and crew will go for season 2, but they have set a very high bar for themselves. The nice thing about a show like this is it has time (or at least until Patrick Stewart reaches his expiration date). The season does not have to be a great war with the Romulans (did I mention how awesome the new Warbirds look?!) or the Klingons (What new ridges will they have now?). They can take small threads of bigger ideas and run with them.
Picard never had a fast-paced feel to it. It took its time, which was fine, because it told the story it wanted to tell. Let Kirk and Spock run around the galaxy at breakneck speeds (if they can get the movies out of spacedock). Picard did a wonderful job creating a new universe inside a well-known universe with characters that may be good now but have tons of room for us to watch them grow. I can’t wait for season 2!!
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